chuu 23-8- 2008 04:34 PM
ATP president/executive chairman de Villiers to step down
LONDON -- ATP president Etienne de Villiers, who introduced videoreplay and increased prize money on the men's tour, will step down whenhis contract expires in December.
De Villiers will leave the postafter instigating a series of changes since taking over in June 2005,the ATP announced Thursday. He reshuffled the tour calendar, allowedbyes for seeded players at Masters tournaments and introduced theHawkeye system of judging line calls.
"I believe we havedelivered the biggest modernization of the ATP Tour since itsinception, have attracted unprecedented levels of investment into men'stennis and have begun to feed the growing appetite for men's tennisglobally, both in established and emerging markets," said De Villiers,the ATP executive chairman. "I am honored to have played a part intaking our great sport to the next level."
The ATP said De Villiers will help in the search for his successor.
DeVilliers, a former president of Walt Disney Television International,joined the ATP as chairman and became executive chairman and presidentfive months later. He helped secure $1 billion of new investment intothe ATP Tour. Much was spent overhauling the tour's image to make itmore fan-friendly.
The byes for seeded players at Masterstournaments led to more appearances by the top players. The increase inprize money was the first in more than five years.
"Now that thismuch-needed change has been realized, I believe this is the right timefor someone new to build on this strong platform," he said.
